


Dead as the Proverbial Doornail

by Aenaria



Series: the Will and the Heart [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, It Came From Tumblr, Meet-Cute, Steve's stealth suit and fingerless gloves make Darcy a happy girl, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, written prior to AOU and CA:CW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:31:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6643342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aenaria/pseuds/Aenaria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy's phone dies while waiting for Jane to finish up a meeting. Help comes from unexpected quarters.  The first in a series of related ficlets from prompts on my Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dead as the Proverbial Doornail

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so if this fic probably looks familiar to you, that's because it was originally on my Tumblr a couple of years back (and was also posted in my unrelated ficlets collection here on AO3 also). However, as there are now four ficlets in this same mini-universe, I'm migrating it over to its own story and posting all the ficlets together in one collection.
> 
> The original prompt was: from appletiniandscotch on tumblr: "Darcy/Steve. Darcy's phone dies." This story takes place before the events of CA:CW, even though it does incorporate some ideas into there.

Darcy supposes she has to be grateful to SHIELD for providing the funding that’s keeping Jane’s research afloat, but right now they’re just making her want to toss herself out of the window to relieve the boredom. Granted, they’re very nice windows, with a hell of a view overlooking Washington D.C., but still. It doesn’t change the fact that she’s stuck here waiting in this conference room while Jane goes over the finer points of her research with some lead scientists. If she’d known this is what would have happened Darcy wouldn’t have bothered to make the hour long drive out from Culver with Jane. Someone’s got to keep an eye on the sensitive equipment, after all.

 

She glances balefully at the power bar on her phone. It’s not going to last much longer before it gives up the ghost and dies - and then she’ll really be out of luck keeping herself entertained. She knows from experience that these meetings can go on for hours. Usually Darcy’s able to sit in on them, which definitely helps to alleviate some of the boredom, but that’s not the case this time for some reason that the SHIELD flunkies couldn’t bother to explain to her in detail.

 

Eh, whatever. Jane’ll tell her everything afterwards anyway. She may not get a real paycheck out of this gig, but she’s got Jane’s trust which is far more priceless.

 

The door to the conference room opens, and a tall man in some kind of battle or combat uniform walks in, a stack of papers in his arms. The face isn’t familiar but Darcy knows the implications of the design of that uniform, so she bites her tongue and watches silently as the man who is most likely Captain America walks towards the other side of the table. When he finally notices her he stops dead in his tracks. “I can go somewhere else,” he says, jerking his head back at the door.

 

“It’s okay,” Darcy says, waving her phone in the air. “I’m just killing time here. Take a seat if you want.” Who is she to say no if Captain America wants to use the room the agents told her to hole up in and wait while Jane’s meeting is going on?

 

And the agents told her to stay put, too. If there’s ever a time to start listening to the SHIELD agents, it would be now.

 

The Captain nods, smiles awkwardly, and heads over to sit at the far side of the conference table.   He drops the papers to the surface and shuffles through the stack. Darcy’s trying hard not to look, but her eyes keep flicking over his way. All right, the chance to ogle Captain America up close and personal is a rare one, and she’s not above taking advantage of it. Besides, he’s even more handsome without the mask and helmet, and he’s focused enough on whatever’s in front of him that he doesn’t notice her quick glances.

 

That, and the fingerless gloves he’s wearing always make a special spot inside of her feel all warm and tingly.

 

There’s a sudden, pathetic sounding bleep from the phone in front of her, and Darcy looks at it only to find the screen fading to black. “Damn it,” she hisses, jabbing at the power button repeatedly. But it’s no good, the phone’s dead as the proverbial doornail.

 

“Everything all right?” the Captain asks her, and Darcy takes a moment to reflect on the fact that he’s really got a nice voice.

 

“My phone died,” she says plaintively. And there goes any form of entertainment she’s got (ogling Captain America only works for so long before the subject of said ogling gets suspicious) to while away the time while Jane’s in with the SHIELD hacks.

 

To her surprise the Captain leans across the table, stretching out fully so he can get a good look at her phone. Then he flips open a small hatch on the surface of the table and pulls out a cord, handing it over to her. It’s a perfect match, she finds, neatly notching the cord into place. “Thanks,” she says, watching as the little battery indicator lights up once more.

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

The Captain returns to his seat, picking up his pen and staring down at the table once more. Darcy glances over at him again, and is struck by how damn young he actually looks. She’s heard the rumors, of course. They flooded the internet after the battle of New York, that the latest incarnation of Captain America out there on those streets was a descendent of the original, a life model decoy, a clone, an alien come down from on high to help out Earth, even the actual original thawed out from wherever they’d retrieved him from. Right now, though, all she sees is a young guy, not too much older than she is, looking rather tired and fairly frustrated with whatever’s in front of him. “Whatcha doing?” she hears herself asking before she actually realizes she’s speaking.

 

He huffs out a laugh and tosses the pen on top of the papers. “Paperwork,” he says. “Lots and lots of paperwork.”

 

Darcy shrugs, pursing her lips like she’s deep in thought. “Save the world, then have to fill out the paperwork for it…yeah, something just seems really wrong about that.”

 

The Captain laughs again, and it’s a nice laugh. “It really is,” he says, dashing his hands back through his hair and leaving it in a right state.

 

“Anything I can help with?”

 

“How good are you at translating scientific jargon into real-people speak?”

 

“Actually, not that bad, depending on which branch of science it is, at least.” Darcy levers herself out of her seat and walks around to the other side of the table. “Wait a sec,” she says, pausing just a few feet away from the Captain. “This stuff is probably classified, isn’t it?” And the last thing she needs is to get in trouble and be mysteriously disappeared by SHIELD into the wilderness because she looked at something she shouldn’t have.

 

The Captain points at the visitors’ badge hanging from her cardigan. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have even made it through the door if you weren’t cleared,” he says. “And I won’t tell if you don’t.”

 

“You must really hate paperwork,” Darcy says as she sits down in the chair next to him. She’ll say this for SHIELD too; their conference rooms have some pretty cushy seats.

 

“Can’t stand the stuff.”

 

“Well, if Captain America has to hate anything aside from Nazis, paperwork is a worthy target.”

 

He shoots her a glance out of the corner of his eye, and then tilts his head slightly, as if he’s coming to a decision. “I’m not technically on duty right now, so why don’t you just call me Steve instead?”

 

“Steve,” she repeats. “I like it. I’m Darcy.”

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Darcy.”

 

“Same here,” she says, smiling, her mostly dead phone now long forgotten. “Now let’s see what we can do about this mess.”


End file.
